Is Harrison Ford in Talks to Join Ridley Scott’s New BLADE RUNNER Sequel?

Alcon Entertainment announced development on a new Blade Runner movie last year to much dismay. However, the fan base was drawn back in with the follow-up announcement that Ridley Scott will return to direct. Up until now, it sounded as if there was no chance Harrison Ford would reprise his starring role in what Scott says is “liable to be a sequel.” Alcon president Andrew Kosgrove stated, “If you’re asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford, the answer is no.” Ford spoke about the project from a distance: “I wouldn’t feel bad if I were not invited to the party.” Scott said the movie will not follow the original characters, including Ford’s Deckard. Can’t be much clearer than that. And yet…

Twitch hears Ford has entered into early talks to join the sequel. They offer no further details, so it’s possible the semantics allow for him to cameo or play a different character. But this diverges greatly from the company line, especially if he will reprise the role of Deckard. More after the jump.

Scott has shown a penchant for roundabout follow-ups with Prometheus, which takes just strands of the Alien DNA and makes something that is cut to look exactly like Alien. So I am very curious to see what Ford’s role will be in this new movie, if he is indeed in talks and they can come to an agreement. Scott indicated that development on the story is “quite a long way in,” so it seems an odd time to just now bring in Ford to the discussion. But Scott and Alcon are still looking for a writer, so there’s definitely time to work or rework the story around Deckard.

If we have to revisit Blade Runner, this is probably the best way to do it, with the men who made the first one so great involved. But the key will be a good story that justifies coming back to the Blade Runner universe. We’ll have a better sense of the true potential in June when Prometheus comes out, and we can see if Scott has his sci-fi mojo back. But in the meantime, this is a cool development. Now someone please call Edward James Olmos‘ agent.

Here’s the synopsis for the original:

Harrison Ford stars as Rick Deckard, a retired cop in Los Angeles circa 2019. L.A. has become a pan-cultural dystopia of corporate advertising, pollution and flying automobiles, as well as replicants, human-like androids with short life spans built by the Tyrell Corporation for use in dangerous off-world colonization. Deckard’s former job in the police department was as a talented blade runner, a euphemism for detectives that hunt down and assassinate rogue replicants. Called before his one-time superior (M. Emmett Walsh), Deckard is forced back into active duty. [Fandango]